Roving frame



2 Sheets-Sheet 1 s M H l 0mm T. S N E R C O m VG 7. O I. N W O O O r RE I.. 0 O m 4 6 R o v FUFK 32 R0 8,1 0 o B o l E N I. 2 o 2 P m 0 D O O .l o I W. q. B 0 w o 0 o q I 4 1;; T J Q: j I 5 32 4 2 9 7 5 23 8 nu mm H m m mmlsw mm Oct: 14, 1969 P. F. GRISHIN ET AL ROVING FRAME Filed Sept. 25, 1967 Oct. 14, 1969 P. F. GRISHIN ET AL 3,472,013

ROVING FRAME 2 Sheets-Sheet Filed Sept. 25, 1967 FIG.8

FIG.7'

INVENTOR. PETER F GRISHIN ANDREW C. ADAMS United States Patent Olfice 3,472,013 Patented Oct. 14, 1969 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A roving frame for receiving sliver forming a roving through a drafting means for relatively short fibers in which a flyer has a depending leg for receiving drafted roving and means for rotating the flyer on which a presser is mounted with means for supporting a roving in its path of travel from the flyer to a bobbin on a bobbin mounting means that is supported on a vertically displaceable rail beneath the flyer with the bobbin mounting means including friction means preventing free rotation of the bobbin mounting means and whereby the roving convolutions are wound on the bobbin under driving roving tension exerted to overcome the friction means resistance to rotation and driving the bobbin mounting means at an angular velocity differential between said bobbin mounting means and a flyer.

BACKGROUND, BRIEF SUMMARY AND OBJECTIVES OF THE INVENTION Conventional roving frames require complex bobbins drive means and package build means including cones and cams as well as differential drive means for the bobbins to form a satisfactory roving package. In one system, a roving is wound on a bobbin employing a flyer in which the bobbin and flyer are driven with a surface speed differential that is equal to the surface speed of the front rollers of a drafting means that imparts the requisite twist to the roving at the front rollers in a direct relationship between the flyer speed and front roll speed. As the bobbin diameter increases during build of a package, the angular velocity of the bobbin must be reduced to approach that of the flyer. In another system, the flyer is rotated at a speed suflicient to impart the requisite twist to the roving but the bobbin is rotated at a surface speed slower than that of the flyer with the angular velocity of the bobbin being increased during package build to approach that of the flyer. Attempts have also been made at a third system specifically for staple fiber of length exceeding 6" wherein sufiicient twist is imparted to the roving and the flyer is driven to rotate the bobbin against a friction surface utilizing the strength of the long staple roving to overcome the frictional resistance of rotation.

It has not been possible heretofore to utilize any of the prior systems with relatively short staple fiber (%6") to drive a roving bobbin by means of the material to be wound thereon and thereby eliminating the conventional differential bobbin drive mechanism.

Therefore, an objective of this invention is to provide a roving frame which will permit relatively short staple fibers to be utilized as the driving force for a package to overcome frictional resistance of rotation of the package being formed.

A further objective of this invention is to provide a roving frame that will control roving winding tension at the point or winding on a package that is proportional to the force required to over come frictional resistance of a roving package winding member with the winding tension being directly applied to the roving continuously throughout package build.

Another objective of this invention is the provision of a roving frame capable of increased production at high speeds with simplicity of doifing and donning, minimum ends down, and one requiring no spindle driving means or mechanism other than that which is imparted to the package by the material being wound thereon.

Many additional objectives of this invention will become more readily apparent to those skilled in this art from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the attached drawings:

DRAWING DESCRIPTION FIG. 1 is a partial perspective view of the head end of a roving frame illustrating a preferred embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged front elevational view schematically illustrating the driving means for the various mechanisms and motions of the roving frame of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged front elevational view of a flyer with false twisting means thereon and spindle with a roving package mounted on the spindle;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged partial transverse sectional view of the spindle with a bobbin shown in outline form mounted thereon;

FIG. 5 is a partial exploded view of the lower extremity of a flyer arm and associated presser;

FIG. 6 is a right side elevational view of a flyer;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken substantially along the plane of section 7--7 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a spindle frictional surface mounting; and

FIG. 9 is a top plan view of a conventional type of presser foot as an alternative to that shown in FIG. 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION There is illustrated in FIG. 1 a roving frame 10 mounton the base 11 on which is supported, at one end, a head end 12 with the other end of the frame being provided with a foot end (not shown). A sliver creel 13 is positioned to the rear of the frame with the sliver supply container 14 being mounted on the can support 15. Sliver 16 is removed from can 14 for feeding to the longitudinally extending rotatable sliver guide roll 17 that is supported through bearings 18 mounted on the guide bars 19 fastened to the base of the frame with the roll 17 being rotatably driven through a sprocket (not shown) positioned on the end of roll 17 that is enclosed by the chain and sprocket housing 20.

Sliver 16 is fed to a three-roll drafting assembly 21 supported directly above the flyer support and drive housing 22, it being readily appreciated that conventional drafting assemblies may be utilized of various construction. The drafted sliver emerges as roving 23 in its path of travel in alignment with the drafting assembly rolls to befed into the false twist bushing 24. Roving 23 is fed under slight tension to the false twist member 24 mounted to project above the housing 22 for guidably supporting and imparting a false twist to the traveling roving 23 with the plate 25 forming a cover.

A series of aligned flyers 26 is rotatably supported in the bearing assembly 27 mounted in the housing 22 for cooperatively supporting for rotation the flyer shaft 28 through the belt driven pulley 29 mounted on flyer shaft extension 28. It is desirable that the false twist bushing 24 be mounted on and rotate with the flyer shaft 28. The flyer bearing assembly 27 may be supported on the housing 22 through the flanged base 30. Each of the fiyers 26 is driven by a toothed belt 31 extending around the driven pulleys 29 and corresponding drive pulley not shown mounted on the longitudinally extending flyer drive shaft 105.

The depending flyer 26 is provided with a frusto-conical hood 31 with a depending skirt 32 and a bell-shaped cross-section in which the interior 33 will cooperatively receive the upper tapered portion 34 of a double tapered roving package 35 wound on the tube or bobbin 36 releasably mounted on the bobbin mounting member or spindle 37. A pair of downwardly extending depending legs 38 and 39 are secured to the skirt 32 of flyer hood 31 with each of the legs 38 and 39 being provided with a downwardly tapering contour as shown in FIG. 6 with each of the legs 38 and 39 being provided with an airfoil cross-sectional configuration, as shown in FIG. 7 for minimizing air resistance at high flyer rotational speeds with the leading edge 40 providing the requisite contour to each leg and each leg tapering to the trailing section 41. One of the depending legs 38 is provided with an axial opening 42 for roving passage therethrough, and a roving guide tube 43 may be inserted in leg 38 of the desired material to inhibit any roving infractions. Roving passage 42 communicates directly with the roving passage 44 provided in hood 31 which in turn communicates with the axial roving passage 45 positioned in the flyer shaft 28 forming a continuous passage through the flyer downwardly to the pivotally mounted presser 46 supported on the terminal end 47 of leg 38 through the bushing 49 that is securely fastened by means of the threaded stud 50 to the end of leg 38 with the bushing 49 being provided with roving opening 51 that communicates with roving opening 42. A pin guide slot 52 is formed on the bushing 49 for cooperatively receiving presser guide pin 53 therein which cooperatively supports the presser with pins 53 passing through the opening 54 in the cylindrical hub 55 of presser 46. The lower end 56 of presser 46 is suitably bored to provide a roving discharge opening 57 for delivery of the roving directly to the rectilinear shank 58 of presser 46 with a minimum of freely unsupported reach of the roving.

At the free end of the recilinear presser shank 58 is a presser foot or blade 59 that is tapered preferably to the blade end 60 with a pair of longitudinally spacedapart roving-receiving openings 61 in foot or blade 59. The roving 23 emerging from the opening 57 in the presser is wrapped about the presser shank 58 to provide the desired contact to promote increased strength through inter fiber contact to prevent severance as the roving is drawn along the shank and through the openings 61 to engage the face 62 of blade 59 as the roving is positioned against the tube or bobbin 46 and any convolutions of roving thereon. To maintain increased strength of roving between the presser blade 59 and the bobbin or material wound thereon the blade is urged towards the bobbin to hold the roving leaving the opening 61 firmly against the bobbin by a spring mounted within the cylindrical hub 55. The spring is secured to the lower end of the bushing 49 and to the hub 55 to urge the hub to rotate in a clockwies direction as viewed in FIG. 5. Presser 46 being pivotally mounted on the end of flyer leg 38 and on bushing 49 will be controlled in its pivotable displacement within the limits provided by the engagement of pin 53 into slot 52. It has been found most desirable in utilizing relatively short fibers to provide intimate and compact guidable support and pressure to the roving along the shank of the presser with no or minimum of free unsupported reaches and a constant application of pressure against the roving leaving the opening 61 by the blade 59 to produce a roving of sufficient strength to transmit the requisite continuous tension required for driving the bobbin mounting means or spindle 37 through the roving directly from flyer rotation.

A conventionally curved presser 65 is shown in FIG. 9 in which the cylindrical hub 66 may be substantially identical to that of presser 46 shown in FIG. 5 but the shank 67 is curved or arcuate sufiiciently to present the tapered blade 68 provided with one or more roving guide openings (not shown) to lead a roving that is wrapped around the shank 67 to the blade 68 with a minimum extend of free unsupport reach of roving.

The base flange 73 is securely mounted to the vertically displacable spindle rail 71 as by bolts or other securing means (not shown), and the spindle blade 74 extending into the cylindrical housing 75 extending from flange 73 for bearingly supporting the spindle blade in the sleeve bearing 76. The lower end of housing 75 threadably receives the sealing nut 77 with the end of blade 74 being retained in rotatable position through the retaining screw 78 that is threadably received in the end of blade 74 and against which the washer 79 is secured to engage the shoulder 80 of the housing well 81 if the event of the blade being lifted, there normally being a clearance between the washer 79 and the shoulder 80.

' An annular bottom frictional steel ring 83 is secured to the upper face 84 of flange 73 for cooperatively engaging the plastic disc 85 on which there is an annular integrally molded ring or pad 86 for frictionally engaging ring 83 for rotation thereon with disc 85 being provided with an integrally molded boss 87 through which there is a spindle blade receiving opening 88 with later ally spaced drive pin receiving openings 89 therein. The disc 85 is surmounted by the flanged base 90 of the bobbin mounting member 70 which has an upwardly ex tending hub 91 through which vertical pin-receiving openings 92 are provided for cooperatively receiving the spindle drive pins 93 therein which pin extend vertically into the pin-receiving openings 94 provided in the base of the bobbin drive and receiving base 95 that is secured to the intermediate portion 96 of the blade and shouldered against the enlarged base 97 of the spindle 98 with the base 99 of the bobbin drive base being pro vided with a polygonal configuration for cooperatively receiving, locking and driving the base of bobbin 100.

After donning an empty bobbin on the spindle, the roving will be drawn through the flyer and over the presser to form several convolutions of roving on the bobbin surface before start-up of the flyer. A differential rotational force will exist between the rotation of the flyer and that of the bobbin which differential force will be dependent upon the resistance to rotation which is determined by the weight of the bobbin and spindle and the convolutions of roving wound on the bobbin and the coefficient of friction between the ring 86 and the ring 83. The tension exerted by the roving will be in proportion to the frictional drag and the package diameter. The tension on the roving will vary throughout build in a predetermined manner as the weight of the bobbin and convolutions increase and the diameter of the package increases. The winding tension is established by the resistance to rotation and is thus a precisely calculable value which is not the case with any other system.

The roving frame is provided with a motor (not shown) at the foot end which drives the flyer drive shaft that extends the full length of the frame and drives the flyers through appropriate means in conjunction with the speed of travel and the twist imparted to the roving. At the head end is also shown gear train 106 driven by the gear mounted on drive shaft 105 for driving the drafting mechanisms. The gear train 106 may be varied to increase or decrease the speed of the front rolls in the drafting assembly 21 by varying the diameter of the gears or the number or teeth so as to change the twist inserted into the roving as the flyer 26 preferably rotates at a constant speed and the twist is modified by varying the speed of the front rolls in the drafting assembly. Drafting gears 107 comprising a cluster of gears are mounted above the twist change gears 106 controlling the back roll shaft (not shown) of the three-roll drafting system with the intermediate roll and front roll being positioned in an inclined relationship as shown in FIG. 1. Thedraft of the roving may be modified also by varying the number of teeth in the draft change gear 108,

and a conventional drive for the entire drafting assembly may be employed. It has also been found preferable to drive the sliver guide roll 17 due to the fragile material through the creel drive sprocket 109 through the drive chain 110 driven by the back roll shaft sprocket 111.

The spindle mounting rail 71 is raised and lowered sequentially during roving package build and the rate of elevating and lowering the bobbins mounted on the bobbin mounting members is determined by the hydraulic fluid flow to double-acting cylinders 112 positioned at the head and foot ends of the frame. The rate at which the hydraulic fluid flows to the cylinders is determined by the lay gears 112 forming the cluster which incorporate a change gear 113 for the lay gears driven from the front roll shaft on which gear 108 i mounted. The speed of vertical movement of rail 71 may be modified by substituting for change gear 113 which will modify the speed of a hydraulic pump 114 which is driven through the chain (not shown) supported on a sprocket (not shown) mounted on the same shaft as gear 112.

A positive displacement hydraulic pump is mounted in the hydraulic circuit to supply fluid through the double solenoid hydraulic valve 115 to the double-acting cylinder 112. Cylinder 112 supports a plunger 116 at the upper end of which is mounted a belt-receiving pulley 117 for engaging the main rail lifting tape 118 that is securely fastened to the clamp 119 for transmitting movement of the cylinder plunger 116 to rotational movement of the lifting shaft 120 about which the tape 118 is securely retained to raise and lower the reaches of tape longitudinally spaced along the length of the frame. The lifting tapes are arranged preferably one at every four spindle positions with each being wrapped around a pulley similar to that of pulley 121 on shaft 120. The lower end of each lifting tape is secured to the spindle rail, and the hydraulic system has a fluid reservoir (not shown) mounted at a convenient position on the frame which also serves as an accumulator.

Throughout roving package build, the vertical displacement of the spindle rail 71 may be modified to obtain the desired double-tapered configuration shown in FIG. 3. Pinion 125 is directly driven from the lifting shaft 120 with the pinion engaging a rack 126 on which is mounted a double builder switch 127. Rotation of shaft 120 'displaces rack 126 in one direction until the builder switch 127 engages one or the other of the bobbin taper cams 128 and 129 at which time the switch is actuated and the double solenoid hydraulic valve 112 directs fluid into the opposite end of cylinder 112 so as to effect a reversal of direction of rotation of the lifting shaft 120 thereby reversing the direction of displacement for rack 126 until the builder switch 127 engages the other of the two taper cams, and the cycle is repeated until the package is fully built. Rack 126 is provided with a recess (not shown) intermediate its length, and a roller 130 mounted on the pivotable linkage 131 urges the roller against the lower side of the rack 126 permitting the roller to enter the recess upon each rack reciprocation. Displacement of roller 130 into the recess actuates linkage 131 effecting engagement of a ratchet and pawl 132 to effect rotation of builder cam 133. Movement of the builder gear 133 rotates a gear train 134 to drive the builder chain 135 which passes around bearingly supported sprockets (such as sprocket 136) which in turn rotates bobbin taper cams 128 and presenting a shorter distance between these cams resulting in a reduced distance of travel between the cam surfaces. Switch 127 will in turn reduce its travel in reciprocation before a reversal direction effecting a reversal of direction of lifting shaft 120 and in turn reverses the direction of movement of rail 171.

It will be apparent that the variation in the length of rail stroke is determined by'the shape of cams 128 and 129. Also, the full package diameter is one of the limiting conditions as determined by the distance between the depending legs 38 and 39. Optimum package dimensions will be dependent upon the shape of the tapered ends of the package and these are carefully controlled. When a heavier and thicker roving are utilized, the number of layers of convolutions required to produce the full package diameter must be reduced, and the corresponding increase in the incremental movement of the taper cams 128 and 129 with each layer must take to produce the optimum shape may be modified.

A full bobbin switch 137 engages a cam mounted behind one of the taper cams 128 and 129 and is actuated when the cam has rotated 270 degrees from the empty bobbin position, and when the switch 137 is actuated, the flyers are stopped as power is cut off. At this state, the package of the roving is completed and ready for doffing. An automatic relay (not shown) is actuated which energizes a resetting motor 138 causing the motor to drive the builder chain to rotate cams 128 and 129 through a further 90 degrees to the empty bobbin position where an empty bobbin switch 140 is actuated stopping the resetting motor 138. The empty bobbin switch not only stops the resetting motor but actuates a valve in the hydraulic circuit which isolates cylinder 112 from the pump in the circuit allowing the bobbin rail to descend by gravity to the lowered or bottom position by virtue of the weight of the rail 71 and the bypass of the hydraulic fluid back to the fluid accumulator through suitable orifices (not shown). Although it was noted that the full bobbin switch stops the machine operating, it does not actually stop until the bobbin is at its lowest position on the final layer or convolution. As the bobbin rail 71 descends to the starting position, the last one or two layers of roving slough off the end as the bobbin is lowered and this sloughing provides a tail which can be used in the dofling and donning operations in preparation for start-up.

The rate at which pump 114 operates the flow of fluid to cylinder 112 is determined by the correct number of coils per inch of roving determined with the first layer of build. As the bobbin builds in diameter, the rate of traverse will be reduced in order to maintain the requisite number of coils per inch throughout the package. This can best be explained by considering the conditions applying with an empty bobbin when the bobbin must move a distance equal to the thickness of roving at each wrap" which may amount to 7 inches of delivery at the front rolls, and, at full bobbin position, the bobbin must move the thickness of the roving while approximately 22 inches of roving issues from the front rolls. This change in rate of movement of the cylinder plunger is achieved by hydraulic flow regulation which is operated by lever 142 that is pivotally mounted to the pump and the free end engages a cam (not shown) secured to the rear of the taper cam 129 thereby regulating the flow of hydraulic fluid to the cylinder 112.

The frame may be provided with suitable photoelectric stop motions at the creel, drafting assembly, and at the flyer with the light beam being interrupted upon any end being down.

It is contemplated that various types of material may be employed to form the frictional surfaces in the bobbin mounting member to yield the desired frictional drag as the roving drives the bobbin mounting and it will be appreciated that instead of utilizing dry friction to produce the drag any other convenient means such as a magnet field or liquid viscosity could be used.

Above it has been mentioned that a presser shank and blade is used to support the roving between the flyer and package but it will be understood that the invention includes any device which will support the roving in such a manner as to promote strength through inter-fiber contact within the roving and also to compact the roving passing from the supporting device to the package to create within that portion of roving sufficient strength to transmit the tension required to rotate the bobbin mounting member. From the above description it will be seen that strength is imparted to the roving by supporting the roving against a curved surface to produce intimate engagement of the fibers in the roving.

The above description specifies that the bobbin will be supported by a rotatably mounted spindle, but it is envisaged that the spindle could be rigidly mounted and the bobbin bearing mounted on the spindle.

We claim:

1. A roving frame for receiving sliver and forming a roving through a sliver drafting means comprising: a flyer having a depending leg for receiving roving, means for rotating said fiyer, a presser mounted on said fiyer leg, said presser having means for directing and supporting a roving having relatively short fibers in its path of travel, a rail supported for vertical displacement beneath said flyer, means for vertically reciprocating said rail between limits, a bobbin mounting member on said rail, means associated with said bobbin mounting member resisting free rotation whereby roving convolutions are wound on a bobbin supported on said bobbin mounting member under driving roving tension from the flyer to drive said bobbin mounting member at an angular velocity differential between said bobbin mounting member and said fiyer.

2. A roving frame as claimed in claim 1, said bobbin member free rotation resisting means having cooperating surfaces whereby the forces generated by the weight of the bobbin mounting means and a bobbin package mounted thereon throughout package build will be overcome by the roving tension generated as the roving is fed directly to the bobbin in convolutions thereon.

3. A roving frame as claimed in claim 1, said presser means including a presser blade for directly and contiguously engaging a roving for support as the roving is fed to a bobbin from the flyer and presser with minimum unsupported roving reaches.

4. A roving frame as claimed in claim 1, said flyer having a frusto-conical head portion and a hollow interior for cooperatively receiving at least the upper end of a bobbin package.

5. A roving frame as claimed in claim 4, said flyer having a pair of depending diametrically opposed vertical legs, each of said legs having a cross-sectional configuration for minimizing air resistance during flyer rotation.

6. A roving frame as claifed in claim 1, said bobbin mounting member means for resisting free rotation having at least one plastic surface to provide drive frictional resistance during rotating substantially proportional to the forces resulting from the weight of the bobbin mount- 8 ing member and the load formed thereon during package build.

7. A roving frame as claimed in claim 1, and package builder means for controlling the vertical displacement of the bobbin mounting member rail to form a tapered bobbin package.

8. A roving frame as claimed in claim 1, said bobbin mounting member including a spindle supported on said rail for rotation, a pair of cooperating fiat surfaces mounted on said spindle to resist free spindle rotation as a roving is wound on a bobbin mounted on said spindle, one of said fiat surfaces being plastic and the other coperating surface being metal whereby tension from a roving being wound on a bobbin will rotate said spindle.

9. A roving frame as claimed in claim 1, said means for vertically reciprocating said rail including a hydraulic system.

10. A roving frame as claimed in claim 1, and means for lowering said rail in response to package size for doffing and donning.

11. A roving frame as claimed in claim 1, and presser having a rectilinear shank.

12. A roving frame as claimed in claim 11, said shank having a blade thereon, said blade having spaced apart roving receiving openings therein.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,713,326 5/1929 Borovoy et a1. 5770 1,925,172 9/1933 Brownell 57-70 2,840,980 7/1958 Whitehead 571 17 3,302,381 2/1967 Pfeiffer 57-99 XR 3,334,828 8/1967 Harrison 5799 XR 3,380,238 4/1968 Araki et al. 5767 XR FOREIGN PATENTS 777,071 6/1957 Great Britain. 893,486 4/1962 Great Britain.

MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner W. H. SCHROEDER, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

